Parity-Violating Excitation of the \Delta(1232): Hadron Structure and New Physics

We consider prospects for studying the parity-violating (PV) electroweak excitation of the \Delta(1232) resonance with polarized electron scattering. Given present knowledge of Standard Model parameters, such PV experiments could allow a determination of the N -> \Delta electroweak helicity amplitudes. We discuss the experimental feasibility and theoretical interpretability of such a determination as well as the prospective implications for hadron structure theory. We also analyze the extent to which a PV N -> \Delta measurement could constrain various extensions of the Standard Model.Comment: 43 pages, RevTex, 8 PS figures, uses epsf.sty, rotate.sty, version to appear in Nucl. Phys. A, main points emphasized, some typos correcte

Population Health Solutions for Assessing Cognitive Impairment in Geriatric Patients.

In December 2017, the National Academy of Neuropsychology convened an interorganizational Summit on Population Health Solutions for Assessing Cognitive Impairment in Geriatric Patients in Denver, Colorado. The Summit brought together representatives of a broad range of stakeholders invested in the care of older adults to focus on the topic of cognitive health and aging. Summit participants specifically examined questions of who should be screened for cognitive impairment and how they should be screened in medical settings. This is important in the context of an acute illness given that the presence of cognitive impairment can have significant implications for care and for the management of concomitant diseases as well as pose a major risk factor for dementia. Participants arrived at general principles to guide future screening approaches in medical populations and identified knowledge gaps to direct future research. Key learning points of the summit included: recognizing the importance of educating patients and healthcare providers about the value of assessing current and baseline cognition;emphasizing that any screening tool must be appropriately normalized and validated in the population in which it is used to obtain accurate information, including considerations of language, cultural factors, and education; andrecognizing the great potential, with appropriate caveats, of electronic health records to augment cognitive screening and tracking of changes in cognitive health over time

Prospectus, October 10, 1984

SO YOU AND THE BULLY ON THE BLOCK ARE GOING TO DESTROY THE WORLD?\u27; PC Digest; Use your vote to make needed changes; First semester headaches; Auntie Miranda-Yes? or No?; Dear Reader; PC Happenings; Lifelong Learners to meet; Parkalnd schedules special registration; Workshop focuses on time management; Animal Health Technicians conference set; Health issues series continues; Emotional problems reason for help, not condemnation; Consumer Health Care Hotline; Notes of interest Prospectus read far and wide; Pictures worth more than a thousand words and dollars; Parkland instructor to teach GM class; Staff profile-Jim Scott-Entertainment writer; Advice from the duodenum-by Auntie Miranda; Wallace and Gray assets to both Parkland and \u27Taken in Marriage\u27; Music Poll; Explore the workings of the brain; Who\u27s top in pop?; Chick\u27s newest more than child\u27s play; Don\u27t miss a night of hilarity; Creative Corner...Especially for you!!; \u27The Foreigner\u27; The alarm clock-Monday morning blues; Natural selection; Bittersweet Memory; Pathways; Beautiful Stranger; Too Late; Love in the winter woods; \u27Doom Story\u27 the nightmare begins; Eternity; Green Eyes; Our day; Rejoice the Poet; Life Choices; Our place; Classifieds; Trust and acceptance provide supportive atmosphere; Change brings creation of destiny; Did You Know...; Kirby leads Cobra harriers to 7th; Lady Cobras win three, improve record to 18-5; A Tale of Three Freshmen; IM Volleyball; IM Football; Kirby says \u27Running is good for heart\u27; Schriefer takes pride in Parkland X-Country; Stewart places 3rd to lead Lady Cobras; Mullen twins guests on Cobra Raphttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1984/1009/thumbnail.jp

Chiral perturbation theory

The main elements and methods of chiral perturbation theory, the effective field theory of the Standard Model below the scale of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking, are summarized. Applications to the interactions of mesons and baryons at low energies are reviewed, with special emphasis on developments of the last three years. Among the topics covered are the strong, electromagnetic and semileptonic weak interactions of mesons at and beyond next--to--leading order in the chiral expansion, nonleptonic weak interactions of mesons, virtual photon corrections and the meson--baryon system. The discussion is limited to processes at zero temperature, for infinite volume and with at most one baryon.Comment: 84 pages, Latex, 11 PostScript figures (in separate file) embedded with epsfig.sty, complete ps file (compressed, uuencoded, 0.6 MB) available via email on request; to appear in Progr. Part. Nucl. Phys., vol. 3

Production of neutral pseudo-Goldstone bosons at LEP II and NLC in multiscale walking technicolor models

Walking technicolor (WTC) models predict the existence of heavy neutral pseudo-Goldstone bosons (PGBs), whose masses are typically expected to be larger than 100 GeV. In this paper, we investigate the production and decay of these particles at the high energy e^+ e^- experiments, LEP II and NLC. We find that, in WTC models, the production of neutral PGBs can be significantly enhanced, by one or two orders of magnitude, with respect to the predictions of traditional (QCD-like) TC models. The origin of such an enhancement is the existence of several low energy TC scales, that are likely to appear in WTC theories. This could allow the PGBs to be observed even at the energy and luminosity of the LEP II experiment. At LEP II, the PGBs are expected to be produced in the e^+ e^- ==> P \gamma channel, and, possibly, in the e^+ e^- ==> P e^+ e^- channel, with a total rate that can be of the order of several tenths per year. Due to the typical large values of PGB masses, the relative branching ratios of PGB decays, in WTC theories, are different from those predicted in traditional TC models. In particular, a large fraction of these decays can occur in the P ==> \gamma \gamma channel. In considering the PGB production, at LEP II, we find that, in most of the final states, the distinctive signatures of WTC events should allow the Standard Model background to be reduced to a negligible level. We also find that, at a 500 GeV NLC experiment, the production of neutral PGBs can occur in several channels, and can be of the order of 10^3 events per year. Instead, when we consider traditional TC models, we find that no PGB are typically predicted to be observed, both at LEP II and the NLC experiment.Comment: 36 pages LaTeX + 10 uuencoded figures. The text has been partially revised and some formulas have been adde

Oral tolerance inhibits pulmonary eosinophilia in a cockroach allergen induced model of asthma: a randomized laboratory study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Antigen desensitization through oral tolerance is becoming an increasingly attractive treatment option for allergic diseases. However, the mechanism(s) by which tolerization is achieved remain poorly defined. In this study we endeavored to induce oral tolerance to cockroach allergen (CRA: a complex mixture of insect components) in order to ameliorate asthma-like, allergic pulmonary inflammation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We compared the pulmonary inflammation of mice which had received four CRA feedings prior to intratracheal allergen sensitization and challenge to mice fed PBS on the same time course. Respiratory parameters were assessed by whole body unrestrained plethysmography and mechanical ventilation with forced oscillation. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) and lung homogenate (LH) were assessed for cytokines and chemokines by ELISA. BAL inflammatory cells were also collected and examined by light microscopy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>CRA feeding prior to allergen sensitization and challenge led to a significant improvement in respiratory health. Airways hyperreactivity measured indirectly via enhanced pause (Penh) was meaningfully reduced in the CRA-fed mice compared to the PBS fed mice (2.3 ± 0.4 vs 3.9 ± 0.6; p = 0.03). Directly measured airways resistance confirmed this trend when comparing the CRA-fed to the PBS-fed animals (2.97 ± 0.98 vs 4.95 ± 1.41). This effect was not due to reduced traditional inflammatory cell chemotactic factors, Th2 or other cytokines and chemokines. The mechanism of improved respiratory health in the tolerized mice was due to significantly reduced eosinophil numbers in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (43300 ± 11445 vs 158786 ± 38908; p = 0.007) and eosinophil specific peroxidase activity in the lung homogenate (0.59 ± 0.13 vs 1.19 ± 0.19; p = 0.017). The decreased eosinophilia was likely the result of increased IL-10 in the lung homogenate of the tolerized mice (6320 ± 354 ng/mL vs 5190 ± 404 ng/mL, p = 0.02).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results show that oral tolerization to CRA can improve the respiratory health of experimental mice in a CRA-induced model of asthma-like pulmonary inflammation by reducing pulmonary eosinophilia.</p

Anaerobic Decomposition of Switchgrass by Tropical Soil-Derived Feedstock-Adapted Consortia

Tropical forest soils decompose litter rapidly with frequent episodes of anoxic conditions, making it likely that bacteria using alternate terminal electron acceptors (TEAs) play a large role in decomposition. This makes these soils useful templates for improving biofuel production. To investigate how TEAs affect decomposition, we cultivated feedstock-adapted consortia (FACs) derived from two tropical forest soils collected from the ends of a rainfall gradient: organic matter-rich tropical cloud forest (CF) soils, which experience sustained low redox, and iron-rich tropical rain forest (RF) soils, which experience rapidly fluctuating redox. Communities were anaerobically passed through three transfers of 10 weeks each with switchgrass as a sole carbon (C) source; FACs were then amended with nitrate, sulfate, or iron oxide. C mineralization and cellulase activities were higher in CF-FACs than in RF-FACs. Pyrosequencing of the small-subunit rRNA revealed members of the Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Alphaproteobacteria as dominant. RF- and CF-FAC communities were not different in microbial diversity or biomass. The RF-FACs, derived from fluctuating redox soils, were the most responsive to the addition of TEAs, while the CF-FACs were overall more efficient and productive, both on a per-gram switchgrass and a per-cell biomass basis. These results suggest that decomposing microbial communities in fluctuating redox environments are adapted to the presence of a diversity of TEAs and ready to take advantage of them. More importantly, these data highlight the role of local environmental conditions in shaping microbial community function that may be separate from phylogenetic structure